Strength and Survival: Changes Over Time
by Kretari - daughter of Hermes
Summary: Same 'verse as Strength and Survival. This one follows Germany and Italy's relationship. You do not have to read Strength and Survival to read this. It can stand alone. Rated for language reasons.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: So..I've noticed something about Strength and Survival recently. I focus so much on the main pairing that the side pairings get overshadowed horribly. So...here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to start side stories for those pairings in the same verse. Tell me which one you guys want to see next. This one...this one is the Germany/Italy pairing. Even though there are hints of this there..you have to squint to see it. With these side stories...you'll get more of the history not only with Lovi, but with the other characters as well. This one will have a lot more of information about Romano's time with the mafia, how it affected Feli, and why Ludwig seems to be so protective over Lovi even when Lovi didn't really like him.**

**So..enjoy.**

A small twelve year old sat in the windowsill beside the door. Silence filled the house for the longest before a soft voice rang through. "Feliciano, relax. Lovino's going to be fine, I promise. He always is."

Feliciano looked over at the blond. Vash. His 'older brother'. "Something's wrong. I can feel it."

Vash's eyes lit in confusion and worry. "..just..five more minutes and he'll be here."

Feliciano nodded and allowed Vash to pull him over to the couch. As soon as they were settled, Feliciano settled down against him tiredly. "Why does he always disappear like this?"

Vash sighed. "I don't know, Feli..I really don't."

Five minutes passed and Feliciano let his shoulders sink. "He's not here..."he said, a single tear falling. "What if he's hurt or something?! He could be dying on the side of the road for all we know.."

Vash sighed, pressing a kiss to Feliciano's forehead. "Get some rest, Feli. I'll wake you when he gets here."  
Sure enough, Lovino walked in not long after that. Feliciano didn't get any rest until he heard the door open. He lifted his head to see his older brother and almost grinned. Then he saw the bruises and split lip. "Lovi!"

Lovino gave a weak smile. "Ciao, Feli."he said.

Feliciano shot up and crashed into Lovino to give him a tight hug, making Lovino wince in pain and push Feliciano back a bit. "Let me breathe."

Vash sighed at the elder twelve year old and examined the injuries before he shook his head. "Let's get you fixed up again, Lovi."

Lovino nodded and let Vash take care of him while he held his little brother gently to let him know that he was still there.  
Their nonno showed up not long after Vash finished and half smiled. "You two ready to go home?"

Lovino nodded, exhausted.

Feliciano agreed as well, hugging Vash tightly before darting out with Lovino being pulled along.

"What was it this time, do you know?"

Vash sighed. "Same as always. He came in with bruises and a split lip, though, so I guess he fought against them tonight."

A sigh.

"Well..thank you, Vash. And..thanks for watching Feli. He's too fragile to deal with this."

Vash nodded.

That night was definitely a hard one for the Vargas brothers. Feliciano had a nightmare that night about losing his twin and had darted into Lovino's room and woke him up.

Lovino grumbled, but held the covers up to allow Feliciano to climb in. "Get in, idiota."he grumbled.

As soon as Feliciano was settled again, Lovino let him cuddle up and fell back to sleep.

That week was hard on both of them. Saturday, when Lovino disappeared again, Feliciano found himself drifting to Vash's house slowly. He got stopped by a blond male, though. "Why the sad look?"

Feliciano looked up to meet icy blue eyes. He blinked. "..it's nothing. Just..my brother.."

"Oh."

_"Oh". That's awfully nice, mister._ Feliciano thought bitterly, but said nothing.

"Well, I'm Ludwig."

Feliciano tilted his head and nodded. "Feliciano."

Ludwig offered a weak smile. "Where you headed?"

"A friend's."Feliciano said. He remembered what Lovino always told him. '_Don't be stupid. Never talk to strangers and tell them about yourself. It'll get you killed.'_

Vash showed up not long after and sighed in relief. "There you are, kid. When you never showed up, I thought that someone'd gutted you. I was about to go on a manhunt for whoever hurt...you..and you have company.."

Ludwig blinke dinn surprise at the Swiss.

Feliciano grinned. "Vash! This is my new friend Ludwig!"

Vash smiled softly. "Gilbert's kid brother, right?"

Ludwig nodded and rolled his eyes. "Though I believe he acts younger than I do."

"Indeed. Well..how about both of you come along?"Vash asked.

Neither boy argued that.

Needless to say, Lovino didn't trust the new addition to the group at all when he saw him. Thankfully, he was uninjured when he entered. Feliciano had cheered at that. "Lovi!"he said, pulling his brother to him. "Lovi, this is my new friend Ludwig. Ludy, this is my fratello Lovino."

Ludwig offered a kind half smiled. "Pleasure to meet you, Lovino."he said, holding out his hand for a handshake.

Lovino flinched back from it thought. "You too."he said, his tone sour and guarded as he eyed the blond's hand before he shook it.

Feliciano sighed. Of course. He'd forgotten. Lovino didn't like to trust others.

This should be fun. He would get Lovino to open up and be okay with Ludwig eventually.

**Here's the first chapter of this one. Let me know which pairing you want the next side story to be about!**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Second chapter of this.**

**Enjoy.**

That evening, Lovino ended up falling asleep at Vash's house while waiting on their nonno. It was after he was asleep that Gilbert showed up looking for Ludwig. "Vash, have you seen Lud - oh."he said, catching sight of his younger brother frowning worriedly at Lovino. He was speaking quietly with Feliciano, who answered him.

Vash looked to Gilbert before rolling his eyes. "Feli and him ran into one another, so I invited him to come over. Kept Feliciano busy."

"Well..our mom's worried..so..."Gilbert said. "She asked me to come get him."

Ludwig looked over at his brother then. "Hallo, Bruder."he said softly.

Lovino stired a bit, but didn't wake up.

Gilbert half smiled. "Aw, who's this one? Feli I've seen before."

Feliciano grinned. "My big brother, Lovi!"

Gilbert nodded. Ludwig got up and moved to his brother's side, waving goodbye to Feliciano and Vash as Gilbert bid them a farewell and disappeared again.

The following week, it became a habit. Ludwig would spend time with Feliciao while Lovino was gone. It offered a great distraction for the younger of the Vargas twins.

A lot of people drifted around this schedule as well.

It was different, that much was for sure.

Once school started, Lovino was around more, so he had to attempt to get along with Ludwig more often. He wasn't keen on the idea, but he didn't fight against it much. In fact, he started inviting Alfred and Matthew over as well so they could all hang out and spend some time getting to know one another. It was better than nothing.

Matthew could see the changes in his best friend, though. He said nothing, but he didn't say anything.

Feliciano noticed this silent exchange every so often, so he brought up a new topic to distract them from a heavy conversation. It wasn't worth the pain it would cause.

**And yes. It's short. I'm being rushed again. I have something I have to do for my German class that I need to get to work on finishing planning.**

**Ciao!**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Tere!**

**Here's the new chapter of Strength and Survival: Changes Over Time.**

**To those who reviewed: **

**ThatRandomReview: More like something to tell some of the backstory that I can't find a way to include in the main one. Besides...the other pairings deserve some love too!**

**Enjoy!**

Feliciano was silent as he listened to his brother argue with their nonno. It wasn't anything new. But it didn't make it easier.

"No! I'm going to do this, Nonno! Otherwise, Feli's gonna run the risk of getting hurt. If I have to leave to keep him fucking safe, I will, but don't tell me not to do this for my fratellino."Lovino's voice drifted through Feliciano's door, making the younger of the twins curl further in on himself. He hated to hear them fighting.

The next moment, Roma's voice filtered through, calm. "I'm not telling you not to do it. But be careful not to bite off more than you can handle, Lovino."

The following morning, the brothers were woke up by Vash. Roma had left for a business trip again. Feliciano didn't like that his nonno was away so much. But what could he do?

Vash sighed as he watched the two he viewed as younger brothers eat their breakfast in silence. "Matthew's invited you two to go home with him this evening."he said softly.

Lovino smiled faintly, but it didn't stick.

Throughout school, things seemed a bit out of order for both of the boys. Matthew grinned at Feliciano and Lovino when they showed up to walk home with Alfred and him. "Hey Feli, Lovi."he greeted.  
Lovino grumbled, but said nothing.  
Feliciano gave a bright greeting before they started walking.

The second the four walked in, it was to be greeted by a young woman who seemed a bit surprised by the appearance of the two Italians. Lovino seemed a bit hesitant to enter further into the house, while Feliciano followed behind Alfred, who set about introducing the younger of the brothers to his father in the next room.

Matthew paused to look back at Lovino. "We aren't going to hurt you, you know. You can come in."he said softly.

Lovino still seemed a bit uncertain, though.

Matthew sighed, looking to the woman for a moment before he spoke. "Hey mom."he greeted softly.

The womano took her eyes off of Lovino to smile at her youngest son. "Hello,"she said.

Feliciano darted back into the room then, followed by Alfred.

While the blond stopped, Feliciano moved to his brother's side. "Come on, Lovi! It's perfectly safe here! Neither of us can get hurt! Promise!"he said happily.

Lovino looked to his brother before he let his eyes go to the floor. "Hai sentito.."he mumbled. "Mi dispiace."

Feliciano shook his head. "Come inside! You'll catch a cold!"

The woman spoke softly. "Lovi, is it?"

Lovino looked up at her for a moment before he gave Matthew and Alfred a look. Then he lowered his eyes and spoke softly. "Lovino, ma'am."

This gained a nod. When Lovino didn't look back up, Feliciano pouted. The woman moved to kneel in front of Lovino, meeting his eyes. She gave an understanding smile. "My name's Aiyana."she said softly. "And your..brother?"

Lovino nodded once, so she continued.  
"He's right. Neither of you will get hurt here. I promise. You are more than welcome to come in."

After a long moment, Lovino half smiled. "Yes, ma'am."he said softly.

As such, Aiyana got up and disappeared out back again. Matthew gave Lovino and Feliciano both a light smile. "I don't understand you two sometimes."

Feliciano gave a brihgt smile and allowed Alfred to drag him off to play a game outside. Matthew and Lovino followed shortly after, still talking quietly. It was only to see the two who'd ran out ahead climbing in a tree. Lovino instantly began to worry. He knew his brother wasn't the most coordinated when it came to stuff like that.

As such, when he saw his brother slip, he took off running and caught him easily, setting him back on the ground. "You have to be careful! You'll end up breaking your neck one of these days, Feli!"he scolded.

Alfred's voice echoed from the top of the tree not long after. "Ma! Look, I made it to the top!"

Aiyana turned from her work in her garden to look up at her eldest son. She pursed her lips before she smiled. "Good job, Alfred. Now can you make it down in one piece?"she called back.

Alfred nodded and started climbing back down easily.

Matthew moved to stand with the Italians while Alfred climbed down.

That evening, the Vargas brothers were invited to stay until their nonno came back. Lovino hesitated slightly, and Feliciano frowned. "Don't tell me. You have to leave again.."he said, sorrow leaking into his words.

Lovino looked up at his brother before he half smiled. "I have to, Feli. Only an hour or two tomorrow after school. Then I'll be right back."

"And hurt! Again! You _always _come back hurt."Feliciano pointed out.  
Aiyana looked to Lovino for a moment at that. "Well then, he'll just have to take some protection, won't he?"

Lovino shook his head. "No, ma'am. I'm not allowed to."

Matthew frowned at his friend, butting in quickly, voice louder than he normally had it. "Why is it you've shifted so much? You were never this closed off before!"

Lovino shrugged. "I have a job to do."he countered. "So..sorry if I've changed."

Matthew sighed. "Still...you guys could stay.."

After a while, the two agreed.

Before bed that night, Aiyana was attempting to do a quick braid, but kept having to stop to keep Alfred out of trouble, therefore messing her up. Lovino half smiled after a while. "Do you want some help?"

Aiyana looked over at him curiously. "Can you?"she asked.

Feliciano grinned. "He can! He used to braid our mom's hair! And he braids one of Vash's friend's hair all the time, because she doesn't like having it loose."

Lovino gave his brother a look, turning red.

Aiyana smiled softly. "If you want to."she said.

Lovino got up from where he was sitting with Matthew and quickly did a simple French braid. He'd gotten so used to the motions. He was done in less than five minutes and returned to his seat.

Aiyana offered him a kind smile. "Thank you, Lovino."

Lovino nodded.  
Feliciano settled against his brother's side, falling asleep not long after he got comfortable.

Lovino noticed and smiled, smoothing his brother's bangs off his face and rolling his eyes. "I swear, I don't know what I'm going to do with you, Feli."he mumbled, kissing the top of Feliciano's head, but otherwise let him be. He didn't want to wake his younger brother.

This action gained him a few sweet smiles, smiles that he completely missed.

**Here. And yes, I did do my research. I hate doing research..**


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Alright. Been a while. Almost two months. Sorry for disappearing on this story. Been back and forth a lot, did a lot of cosplays and stuff. But I'll not go into that right now. Anyways..**

**To those who reviewed:**

**Natalya . the . Awesome: Indeed it does. It'll be like that for a while, I'm afraid.**

**Enjoy.**

The following evening found Feliciano sitting near the door in wait. Vash had come over to help keep an eye on him, Alfred and Matthew. The two blonds were working on homework - Alfred doing his very grudgingly.

When he saw Feliciano glance at the clock and frown, Vash spoke. "He's okay."he promised. "He's on foot, remember? He's alright, you know this."

"Vash, he's an hour late."Feliciano said. "He said, at most two hours after school."

Matthew spoke up. "Feli..listen. Lovino will be okay."

Vash's phone went off then and he answered it, frowning at the unknown voice. Within the next moment, a look of understanding showed up and he spoke. "Thank you. I'll be there soon,"he said, getting up and kissing the top of Feliciano's head before he left.

Alfred stopped working and frowned in worry. "Is that normal?"

"Sometimes. On the bad nights."Feliciano said, eyes never leaving the door.

When Vash got back, carrying a sleeping Lovino in his arms, Feliciano frowned, taking in the damage that had been done to his brother. Matthew patted a pallet that was on the floor for the boys for a movie marathon they were going to have later on. Vash laid him down and kneeled beside him.

Feliciano moved to sit next to his brother, frowning at the amount of blood covering his arms and face. "Why is he always hurt?"he asked quietly, wiping some of the blood away carefully to expose darkly bruised skin.

Aiyana noticed and brought a small bowl of cool water and a soft rag and set them down.

Feliciano smiled and took the rag, carefully dipping it into the water and rinsing most of it out before carefully cleaning the blood off of Lovino.

As soon as he was free of blood, Vash took over and gave Feliciano a look when he protested. "You've done enough, Feli."

Feliciano nodded in understanding and pulled his knees up to his chest as he watched Vash put a salve on the bruises carefully, placing a few bandages on Lovino's face to cover some of the cuts before wrapping both of his arms in gauze gently.

Lovino woke up sometime after Vash had finished to soft talking.

"...but he deals with this for a reason, and it's his choice."Vash was saying.  
Feliciano nodded. "Yeah. He told nonno he's doing this to keep me safe."he replied quietly. "But I hate it. It hurts him."

Lovino frowned, blinking at his twin. "Feli...?"he asked. "What's the matter?"

Feliciano helped his brother sit up and gave him a gentle hug.

Lovino shook his head, keeping his brother curled up against him. It was a comfort to him. He let his head drop to rest on Feliciano's shoulder for a moment. "Sorry for being gone so late,"he mumbled.

Feliciano gave a weak laugh. "Don't apologize for that, fratello."he said. "I'm just glad you're here and relatively unharmed."

Lovino nodded in agreement, then frowned at his arms. "I guess this means jackets and long sleeves again.."he mumbled.

"That it does."Vash commented. "And a lot more caution in the future as well. This can't happen every time you disappear off somewhere, it'll kill you."

Lovino sighed, but agreed quietly.

That night proved to be interesting. Lovino didn't get any rest, so he was kept back from school the following morning. Feliciano promised to get his homework and stuff before he left.

Ludwig noticed the delicate frown on Feliciano's face before anything else when he saw his friend enter the classroom and take a seat. "Your brother again?"

Feliciano sat down beside him at the double table and moved to bury his face against Ludwig's neck sadly, hiding his face from everyone else.

Ludwig seemed shocked at first, not used to having people so close to him, but he gently wrapped his arms around the Italian. "Everything okay?"he mumbled softly to Feliciano.

Feliciano moved back slightly, but stayed in the German's arms. It was a comfort. "I don't know. He won't let me help him with anything."he said softly. "You should have been there yesterday, Luddy...Vash carried him in because he'd fallen asleep, and he was covered in blood and bruises and cuts and stuff. I miss him being able to go a week without getting hurt so badly."

Ludwig frowned. "I'm sorry to hear,"

Needless to say, that day didn't turn out to be the best one for Feliciano, but Ludwig stuck with him, offering a comforting presense, even though he was highly uncomfortable with the lack of personal space recognision that the younger Italian showed.

**Just a warning, you are going to get highly annoyed with Ludwig and Feliciano in this story in the future. They don't get together until the very beginning of their sophmore year in high school, when they're sixteen. They're in sixth grade right now, just beginning middle school.**


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: Guten Tag! How are you guys? Figured...I have nothing else to do, I have ideas, why not write on this..or start a new drabble? And I'm not starting a new drabble right now with VBS just starting yesterday going through Friday (my birthday. Lord help me, they're going to kill me with embarrassment). But, I can do updates, hopefully. If I have the inspiration for chapters and stuff.**

**Anyways...to those who reviewed:**

**ItalyAllday: It's completely understandable. Trust me, I refuse to go day by day with this thing. Not happening. That's too long. Four years? Right around four years. Not happening day by day. I don't have that kind of patience or inspiration. Gerita was the second yaoi couple from Hetalia I was introduced to. The first one was...USUK, I believe..yeah, my group's Switzerland bothered me about that for the longest after they dubbed me and pulled me into the group. It was...odd, I didn't understand, so I did research, still didn't understand, Canada explained, got me more lost, then America stepped up and told me it was a pairing ship and I was like 'Oh, why didn't you just say that to begin with'. Then Gerita and Spamano and stuff happened and it was just...brilliant. Lost in ships, sure, but I loved it. **

**And that response got away from me. Sorry. **

**Enjoy! *Hides***

Ludwig ended up walking back with Feliciano, Matthew, and Alfred. He had been really uncertain about showing up there, but the three had insisted.

As soon as they got there and had entered, the first thing that happened was Feliciano took off towards the couch, plopping down in front of it and resting his chin on one side of it.

Ludwig blinked in surprise and Matthew and Alfred stayed back slightly.

Not even two minutes later, they heard calm breathing that came with sleep shift into a startled yelp. "Feli, what the hell?!"

Feliciao grinned happiled. "Ciao, fratello!"he greeted brightly.

Lovino pushed himself up, keeping the Italian-flag design blanket wrapped tightly around him.

He looked over and scowled at Ludwig. "You brought him along?"he said in distaste.

Feliciano pouted at his brother. "Si. He was worried when I told him what happened! We told him that he could come see you and stuff!"

Lovino looked at his brother before rolling his eyes.

It was then that Alfred and Matthew moved, sitting down on the loveseat nearby. Feliciano hopped up and sat down on one side of Lovino, staring at Ludwig until he gave in and sat on Lovino's other side.

Lovino scowled, curling futher in on himself and pulling the blanket up over his head so that only his eyes and nose were seen. The hard olive green eyes were glaring at the German, but he said nothing.

The group got to talking quietly, the sound of the news playing on the television going as well. Eventually, Lovino drifted back to sleep. As much as he tried to stay upright, he ended up slumped over, half on top of Feliciano, half on top of Ludwig.  
Feliciano gave a faintly amused smile, and Ludwig seemed uncomfortable but too worried to move.

Aiyana came through right about then. "Alright, what do you guys want for dinner?"she asked without looking up. When she got no answer, she glanced up to see the scene and smiled faintly. "Let's get him to bed, shall we?"

Ludwig looked at Feliciano, who was playing with his brother's bangs quietly. He reached over and tapped the younger Italian's shoulder, making him stop and look up. "He needs to go to bed."he said.

Feliciano nodded. "Can you carry him?"he asked softly.

Ludwig tilted his head before he sighed and nodded. "Ja. I can."he said, carefully picking Lovino up as he stood.

What got him was instead of waking up like Ludwig thought he would, Lovino only curled in a bit more and settled again.  
Aiyana led him down the hall to a guest room that had been set up for the two Italians and pulled back the covers on one of the beds.

Ludwig laid Lovino down carefully and gave a faint smile before he walked back with Aiyana and settled beside Feliciano, who immediately curled against him.

Aiyana gave up on suggestions for dinner and went to find something on her own.

Matthew noticed that Ludwig looked highly uncomfortable, because he spoke. "You'll get used to Feli's physical contact soon enough. He...that's how people have to comfort him. He has to have physical contact. Lovino's sometimes like that, if he's hurt or something, which is why he didn't wake up when you picked him up. He normally would have. Mom can't move him without him waking up."

Ludwig nodded in understanding. "Well, I really do hope that he'll be okay. He seemed pretty torn from what I saw."he said. "What kind of person would do that to a twelve year old child?"

Feliciano sighed. "He's not been a child for a while. Ever since he got involved in this group to try to keep me safe...he gave up his childhood for me."he mumbled. "But he's always hurt...He disappears a lot..and he's almost always hurt when he returns."

Ludwig frowned. "We'll figure something out."he promised.

The following month was full of activity. Lovino disappeared a couple times for an hour or two and came back slightly bruised and battered, but relatively alright. Ludwig was trying to figure out how to help, but any attempts to help were shot down by Lovino, who'd only glare and start cursing at him in a mixture of quick Italian and English.

Now, the end of the month, the last week or so of October, Lovino disappeared after school the last Friday before Halloween, which fell on the following Thursday. He didn't show back up that night, and it made Feliciano worry.

On Monday, when there was no signs of him at school, Ludwig asked about it.

Feliciano shook his head. "He never came back on Friday.."he said softly as the two sat in class, work completed for the day. "Vash keeps saying to just wait, he'll be back soon. But I keep thinking...he's never been gone this long before. What if he's hurt or dying or something?"

Ludwig sighed. "We can't do anything, though. We don't know where he is."

Feliciano nodded in understanding. "Nonno's gone too. He took off to visit some friends sometime last night, so I'm back with Mattie and Al."

Ludwig gave a soft frown. "He'll come back soon. Both of them will."

"I hope you're right..."Feliciano mumbled.

**Now. VBS tomorrow, I got to get to sleep. It's almost six in the morning where I am. Bed time.**


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: Hey, guys. So...yeah, staying up until six in the morning killed me.. **

**Anyways..**

**To those who reviewed:**

**ItalyAllday: I'm actually working on an update for the original Strength and Survival right now as well. Since it's summer and I don't get to hang out with my school's cosplay group, I don't have as much inspiration as I did before. My group **_**does**_** do the couple thing, actually. It's mostly like..crack pairings, but with the couples..we've also done canon. Like...I can't remember who it was, but someone set my group's France and me up sometime before my cousins' group's Sweden moved down here for a while, for the next couple of years, from Massachusetts. But we broke it off...it's weird, but we're too much like our characters for something like that to work out, and now I'm going out with Aidrian (said Sweden cosplayer). Going through what I know, the group's Italy and America have dated before..some people used to think that Italy and Switzerland were together before they stopped talking and stuff..there's just a lot of random crack pairings that were interesting to hear about happening after I joined as their Iggy...**

**Enjoy!**

Lovino stumbled back in at Matthew and Alfred's that Wednesday after school. Ludwig was over, working with Feliciano on a project they had while Matthew and Alfred were doing their own homework in silence across the coffee table from them. When the door bounced off the wall, Feliciano looked up and shot up and over Ludwig, startling the German.

He looked up just in time to see Feliciano nearly tackle Lovino in a hug.

Lovino winced and shoved his brother away from him weakly. "Feli, let go of me, damn it!"he snapped, taking two steps back towards the door and breaking his brother's hold on him.

Ludwig frowned at the elder Italian's appearance. His clothing, the same clothes he'd worn Friday at school, were ripped and torn, barely able to keep him warm in the cool October air. All visible skin was bruised and cut and bloody. There were a few spots where he could see a flash of a bone that had been broken or fractured. He frowned deeply. "Come have a seat, let's get you fixed up and get some food back in you. You look like you've been starved since you disappeared,"he said softly, getting up and patting the couch.

Feliciano moved back and Lovino frowned, but huffed and took a seat anyways.

Matthew grabbed a first aid kit and passed it over to Ludwig, who knelt down and set to work on Lovino's arms. He wasn't going to make the Italian more uncomfortable than he had to."

But Lovino ended up drifting off, finally relaxing, before he finished with his arms, so Ludwig figured that he was trusted enough to finish without Lovino keeping himself awake to keep an eye on him.

After that, Feliciano got up and set about fixing something for his brother to eat, an old Italian food that the boys were used to eating at home.

Lovino woke up to the familiar smell not long after it was finished and Ludwig spared him a glance.

"Feel better?"

Lovino glared at him. "I'll feel better after I actually heal and get some food, bastard,"he said, but it wasn't as snappish as normal.

Feliciano entered then, carrying a plate that he handed to Lovino as he sat down beside Ludwig and got back to work.

Lovino was dead silent as he almost scarfed the food down.

Feliciano noticed and frowned. "Did they actually _starve_ you there?"

Lovino shook his head. "No."he said.

Feliciano searched for the tellings of a lie, but decided to go back to work and let his brother be.

Needless to say, that was one of the worst days for the Vargas brothers. Their grandfather got them the following day and took them home.

The rest of that year flew by. Lovino got a few more scrapes and bruises, but nothing as bad as that week leading to Halloween. Still, Feliciano was beyond worried for his brother's safety in this group.

Ludwig tried speaking with the elder about it, only to be cursed at and told to 'mind his own damn business'. He didn't argue back. He backed off and let Lovino be.

Still, he worried just as Feliciano did, due to the fact that Feliciano was his _best friend_ and Lovino was Feli's brother. He was allowed to worry over him. He did the same with his own brother's friends. It was a habit he had.

**So. VBS was amazing. I loved it. Now..I have an early morning, time to call it quits for the night.**


End file.
